


Come as You Are

by dianas_galpal



Category: Desenfrenadas | Unstoppable (TV)
Genre: F/F, Marvera, carlota and vera love to hate each other, mike is a supportive little shit, rocio is a mom, vera and mercela are soft™
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:13:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23567398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dianas_galpal/pseuds/dianas_galpal
Summary: Vera and Marcela's relationship and lives after the last episode.
Relationships: Vera/Marcela
Comments: 22
Kudos: 81





	1. City Lights

**Author's Note:**

> This quarantine is boring me so much and as i fell in love with desenfrenadas i decided to start writing. This is my first time writing, english is not my first language and im both under and over caffeinated so dont get your hopes to high please. I dont know where this is going so if you have any ideas or requests hit me up (comments or tumblr : dianas-shortgalpal)

The night has already fallen over the city when they reach CDMX. Vera loves driving by night when everything is quieter, no sounds, just billboards and streetlights passing by.

She's quietly humming along the radio when Rocío wakes up looking around slightly confused.

"Hi _bebe_ " Vera greets her. 

"Hey. We're back…" She looks in the backseat and sees Carlota, Marcela and Mike all fast asleep. "Sorry we fell asleep on you."

The blonde girl glances in the rearview mirror smiling softly "It's okay, some quiet time was actually kinda welcome."

The young doctor chuckles "Yeah those last days were pretty intense. I'm gonna need like a whole week to recover."

"Tell me about it… Do you want me to drop you home?"

Rocío looks out the window and sighs "I don't know. I don't really feel like confronting my dad right now. Can we crash at your place for tonight? I'm not ready to say goodbye to you girls just yet." 

Vera reach outs and gives her hand a squeeze "Of course." 

After a moment of silence she adds "If this was just a getaway weekend I can't wait for your bachelorette party. Shit's gonna get wild!" 

Rocío snorts. "You definitely will not be organizing it and at this rate you'll probably be getting married before me, you know" she teases.

"Yeah right!" Vera says with a laugh.

——

Vera's apartment feels surprisingly soft and homey to Marcela considering the rather bold looks the girl likes to put on. Some beautiful pictures and paintings hang on the white walls, in a corner there's a messy desk filled with magazines, cutout pictures, color palettes, a computer and a bunch of notebooks. Some clothes were left scattered around on the soft colored furniture, there's a camera hanging by the door, a guitar is resting against one of the loveseats. The only bold piece of furniture is a bright yellow sofa facing the big windows and the balcony where you can see part of the sleeping city.

The girl's exploration is cut short by her brother dramatically collapsing into said sofa and grunting "Ugh I'm so tired." 

"You and Marcela can take the guest room. Ro and Carli will sleep with me." Vera says from the kitchen where they're preparing some late night snacks.

Mikes goes to sleep and when Marcela joins the three friends Carlota asks when is the u-haul supposed to arrive, Rocío chuckles and the tattooed girl stares confused "The what?" 

"Nothing Marce, don't pay attention to her, she's a _pendeja_ " says Vera handing her a sandwich "Here, eat something." 

They all eat in silence at the kitchen island, too tired and lost in their own thoughts to make any attempt at a conversation.

——

Later in the night, Vera is laying in bed still awake. She never would have thought that she'd be willing to risk her own life for a woman who was a stranger to her a few days ago and yet here she is, flashes of shooting Joshua, of him threatening them with the gun, of Marcela being shoved into the truck playing on her mind. She gets up, maybe she has some sleeping pills left in her bathroom cabinet. Making her way into the living room she sees Marcela outside on the balcony smoking a cigarette. She grabs a blanket from the couch and joins her.

"Hey" she almost whispers, not wanting to startle the other girl. 

Marcela turns to look at her with a soft smile, almost sad "Hi, can't sleep?" 

"What are you doing out here? It's cold, come here" Vera lifts the corner of her blanket inviting her in.

"Thanks. Uh I couldn't sleep and I saw those laying around so I came outside for a smoke" she says, lifting her cigarette "Hope you don't mind." 

"Don't worry about it, you can have them. I quit anyways." 

Marcela glances at her slightly surprised but says nothing, instead she looks at the city in front of them "It's beautiful all those lights." 

"It is. Here you can't see the stars because of the fog but we do have those. When I was little I loved landing by plane by night because it looked like the sky was upside down and we were going to land in a field of stars." 

The tattooed woman listens with a smile "You and me had a very different childhood, _morra._ " 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" 

Marcela laughs. "It's okay, you're used to always being surrounded by bratty rich kids who go to Paris on their weekends." 

"Hey! My dad flew me to Paris on the weekend of my 11th birthday" Vera mutters. 

"Ha! You see… That's probably when you went all wrong because I bet you were actually pretty adorable and nice as kid." 

Vera smiles "I was!" then more seriously adds "Didn't do me much good, though." 

Marcela frowns but the blonde looks away, cutting the conversation short so she doesn't press the matter not wanting to make the girl uncomfortable.

They stay in a comfortable silence under their blanket for a while when Vera asks "Why did you take it?"

Marcela knows immediately she's talking about the ring. "I don't know, I was going to grab my gun but then I saw it and took it instead. I don't know why, it was of no use to me, I wasn't even planning on selling it or anything. It was a dumb mistake really" she pauses and chuckles softly, staring at her own hands gripping the balcony rail "Maybe I wanted an excuse to see you again, I don't know. Maybe deep down I wanted you to come looking for it."

She looks up and sees Vera staring at her with an unreadable expression. 

"You saved my life _Güera._ " she tells her, voice full of sincerity and gratefulness .

Suddenly she's engulfed by a warm embrace and blond hair "I got so fucking scared I'd lose you, _Pendeja_ " Vera whispers against her neck.

Marcela wraps her arms tightly around the taller girl "I'm sorry _Mamí_ , I didn't mean to cause you any pain."

"I hate it when you say that." 

"What? _Mamí_?" 

"Yeah" 

" _Mamí Mamí, Mamacita._ " 

"Noooo" Vera is trying to sound annoyed but the brunette can feel her laughing "Stop it!"

"Okay, okay. But don't think I don't know you secretly love it when I call you that."

"Fuck you." 

Marcela laughs. She looks down at the blonde who still has her face burrowed against her neck "What were you doing up anyway?" 

Vera sighs "Couldn't sleep, too much on my mind. Was gonna grab a sleeping pill." 

Marcela tries to pull away but the other girl protests "Hey no, where are you going?" 

"Come on" she says taking her hand and leading them into the living room. 

"What are you doing?" Vera asks sleepily as Marcela makes herself comfortable on the couch. 

"Cuddling you to sleep." 

"I don't…" 

"Come here _Flaca._ " she says rolling her eyes and patting the space next to her. 

Vera hesitates for a second before complying and laying down. Strong arms wrap around her from behind and she immediately feels herself drifting off to sleep. 

A few minutes go by and Marcela thinks the blonde is asleep but suddenly she turns around and throws an arm around her chest, she freezes, slightly startled.

"You need a hug too" is all Vera mumbles before finally falling asleep. 

"Thanks _Mamí_ " she whispers in the dark before surrendering to sleep as well


	2. Ocean Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vera and Marcela talk. Marcela thinks she doesn't have anything to repay Vera for all of her help but turns out she's already done a lot for Vera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again, i'm back sooner than i anticipated. I guess the gay muse hit me hard because i wrote this 3k words chapter in almost one sitting and im posting it right away. So if it sucks blame her not me. Also i made some sketches of Vera's apartment so if anyone is interested in what it looks like, say so and i might re-draw them better and post them (anything to pass some time really). anyway, enjoy and let me know what y'all thought.  
> (tumblr : dianas-shortgalpal)

The next morning, Vera's sleep is interrupted by loud laughter. She jolts awaken, slowly taking in her surroundings. Right, she fell asleep on the sofa. She fell asleep on the sofa with Marcela and Marcela is not there anymore. She sits up and sees her with Rocío and Carlota in the kitchen eating breakfast while chatting joyfully together. Well, that explains the laughs, she thinks. She gets up, wrapped tightly in a blanket and makes her way groggily into the kitchen.

"Hey sleepy head."

"Mmph" she grunts into Rocío's shoulder as the brunette greets her with a hug.

"Why did you sleep on the sofa, you idiot?" asks Carlota "Your giant and oh so comfortable bed is big enough for us three."

"Cuz you snore too much, asshole."

"Hey! That's not…"

"Ok, ok. Here have some coffee Vera, you know you need your dose of caffeine before any human interaction." Rocío interrupts as she handles the blonde of cup of black coffee.

"Fuck you, but also thank you, I love you." says Vera, smiling lovingly at her drink.

Marcela watches the three friends banter with a smile. She never had that kind of friendship, the kind that knows the other ones better than they know themselves sometimes, the kind that takes care of each other no matter what, the kind that is stronger than blood. Of course she had friends growing up but after her mom died and her dad disappeared and she was left alone to take care of her little brother, none of her friendships were strong enough to make it past the shit that life throws at you. The only one who stuck around was Joshua and well, that wasn't exactly a blessing. No, the blessing was actually a bunch of preppy young women in an orange suv named Courtney. All she had "asked" for was a a ride to the city but she got so much more instead and she doesn't want to think about what would have happened to her and her brother if she hadn't jumped into that car.

"Hey you okay?" she hears Carlota ask.

"Mmh? Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to thank you all for what you did for me. It Really means a lot. I'm not used to people helping me without asking anything in return."

"Hey, you're one of us now. We got your back, Marcela." Rocío tells her while giving her hand a squeeze. Vera nods, smiling at her softly.

"Yeah _Mamí_." says Carlota with enthusiasm. "Oh! Should we get a matching tattoo?"

"Ew! No Carli!"

"What? I think it could be cool. Like _#ShroomGang_ on our asscheeks or something."

Vera stares at her, shaking her head with disgust.

"I'll do it with you. I can hand-poke actually" offers Marcela laughing.

"Marce!" Vera whines.

"No I'm good." Carlota exclaims "I'm actually super scared of needles." she adds, fake-whispering.

"Yeah no one is tattooing anyone." says Rocío with her mom voice.

At that moment Mike emerges from the guest room "Who's getting tattoed?"

"No one, those two are just being stupid" says Vera with an eye-roll.

"Oh ok." He goes to make himself a bowl of cereal, he sniffs the almond milk "Ew what is this?"

"That's the poor excuse of milk that miss vegan here drinks." answers Carlota.

Vera makes a face at her " _Pendeja._ "

Mike laughs with Carlota as he pours the milk. "Hey, why didn't you come to bed last night?" he asks his sister.

Rocío raises her eyebrows in surprise, Carlota's jaw drops as she looks between Vera and Marcela making a shocked noise. Vera avoids their looks and instead stares at the cup of coffee in her hands.

"Uh I couldn't sleep so I got up to get some fresh air and I ended up falling asleep in there." Marcela points to the living room, shrugging.

"Uhuh, interesting." draws Carlota with a huge grin, wiggling her eyebrows at Vera.

"Stop that." the blonde says, annoyed.

RocÍo laughs quietly at the situation.

"what's going on?" asks Mike.

"Well my young friend, your sister and my very dear Vera here…" Carlota begins.

"Nothing" interrupts Marcela "Vera couldn't sleep either last night so we just talked for a while and then both fell asleep on the couch."

"Is that what they call it nowadays? _Talked for a while…_ "

"Carlota, I swear to god I'm going to throw this coffee at you if you don't stop."

Mike looks at them skeptically before shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth "You girls are weird."

——

Once they are finished with breakfast, Rocío sighs "I should get going, I really need to talk to my dad, I can't keep avoiding it… Carli, you're coming too? We can share a cab."

"Uh yeah sure, let me get my things."

"What are you gonna say to your dad?" asks Vera.

"I don't know. Probably that I need some time to figure out what I really want to do and that he needs to let me make my own decisions, even if he doesn't like it."

Vera pinches her cheeks, cooing "I'm so proud of you, _bebe_. All grown up and everything."

Rocío swats her hands away "What about you?"

"Uh? What about me? Oh look Carli is ready to go!"

Carlota drops her bag and goes to hug her two friends "Ugh I don't want to leave you bitches." she motions for Marcela to come join them "Hey, come here _morra_." Once the four of them are into a tight hug she looks at them and declares "Thanks for this trip, it was both the worst and the best weekend of my life and I'm gonna miss you all so much." They all nod with a sad smile.

"Come on, we see each other all the time, Carli" tries to console her Rocío.

"I know, I know…" she reluctantly picks up her bag "Ok, let's go before i start crying." she gives Marcela and Vera one last hug and before going out the door she turns and tells them with a grin "Be good you two, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Not much then…"

"Bye Vera, love you!" the poet yells from the staircase.

"You two are the worst" says Rocío laughing. She gives Marcela a tight hug "Bye girl, you take some rest, keep an eye on that wound and I'll see you soon yeah?"

"Yeah. See you soon Chío, thanks for everything."

The doctor nods before makeing grabby hands at Vera "Take care of yourself babe" she whispers into the hug.

"You too, keep me posted with everything."

"I will. Bye girls, see you!"

"Bye"

"Bye _bebe_!"

Once the door closes, the two girls look at each other a bit awkwardly, not sure of what to say or do now that they're alone.

"I…"

"Wha…"

"What happened between you two?" asks Mike suddenly, appearing next to them.

Vera jumps, startled "Fuck! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Mike! _Pendejo_ , don't creep up on people like that."

"So..?"

"So what?"

"Why did Carlota keep teasing you and why are you being awkward with each other?"

"We're not being awkward and Carlota is just annoying" protests Vera.

"Yeah right…"

"Mike, leave her alone."

"Why? Wait… Are you two like a thing?" he asks with a grin.

"What? No, what are you talking about?"

"Oooooh you totally are! That's why she came to get you, that's why she shot Joshua!" he exclaims, proud of himself."Damn sis, good job. She's waaaaay prettier than him."

"Shut up Mike."

He turns to Vera "You got balls _morra_ , respect." he raises his hand for a high-five.

Vera stares at it before high-fiving him skeptically "Thanks?"

"I like her." The young boy approvingly pats her sister's shoulder before dropping down onto a couch yawning, apparently ready for a nap.

Marcela turns to Vera and sees her staring out the window, looking contradicted "Sorry about that, he's just being stupid."

"It's okay." replies the blonde without looking at her. "Come on, we gotta check your cut, don't want it to get infected."

Marcela follows her to the bathroom where she's already looking for some antiseptic.

"Come in, sit down." she commands, still not looking at her.

"Rocío cleaned it last night you know and it's not that deep. I'll be okay."

"Just let me check it."

"It's okay, I can do it myself, you don't need to." She doesn't understand why the blonde is making a big deal about her small cut. She's had way worst wounds and always took care of them herself and did fine.

Vera finally turns and looks at her "Don't you want me to help you?" she asks with a small voice.

"What? No, that's not it. Just… This doesn't seem like the kind of things you enjoy to do and I can do it by myself, I've done it before, it's fine." Marcela says giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Vera frowns "But you're not by yourself anymore though." She brings her hand to the girl's bruised cheekbone and strokes it softly "Please let me take care of you." she whispers.

Marcela gulps, confused by the blonde's sudden change of mood. She was closed and distant a few seconds ago and now she was looking almost vulnerable. "Okay _Mamí,_ okay. You can play doctor."

Vera chuckles "Idiot."

There she was. Marcela smiles and hops on the bathroom counter. Vera steps in between her legs and starts to clean the wound. Marcela takes the opportunity to take a closer look at the blonde. She's got a focused frown, her tongue slightly poking out and she can feel her slow breath on her face. Fuck, she's cute. Then Vera is looking at her and the blue of her eyes reminds her of the color of the ocean at dawn when… Right, they still haven't addressed that. Not that either of them was purposefully avoiding the subject, they just haven't found the right moment to bring it up.

"What?"

"Uh?"

"You were staring."

"Oh, sorry" Marcela mutters "I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Stuff?"

Vera raises a skeptical eyebrow "Right…"

Marcela lets out a chuckle "Sorry, it's just that I remembered the other night, at the beach."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well… It was nice, I had a good time." Vera offers with a coy smile.

"Me too, _Flaca_." Marcela smiles as she pulls the blonde into a hug "Me too."

Vera drops her head to her shoulder "Thanks by the way."

"For what?"

"My first orgasm." she mumbles.

Marcela lets out a loud laugh "It was an honor and a pleasure _Mamí_."

Vera laughs "Stop calling me that."

"Whatever you want."

"You're all set by the way." Vera says, taking a step back.

Marcela slides off the counter "Thanks _Mamí_."

"Ugh, I hate you!"

When they get out to the living room, laughing, Mike is staring at them "What were you two doing in there?" he asks. Then with a look of disgust on his face rushes "Wait no, I don't want to know."

"Nothing _pendejo_ , she just disinfected my cut."

" _Pinche*_ Joshua, if he ever shows up, I'm the one who gets to shoot him."

"Ok tough guy."

"Do you guys want to watch a movie?" Vera interrupts, not very comfortable with all this shooting talk.

"Yes!"

They end up watching an action movie to which neither Vera nor Marcela pay attention to. Vera ends up falling asleep against Marcela and the tattooed girl is too busy thinking about what she needs to do now. She's in a city she doesn't know, with no job and a brother to take care of. Things aren't looking too well.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Vera asks softly.

"Oh hi, I thought you fell asleep."

"I did, this movies sucks. But seriously, what's going on? You seem preoccupied."

"I need to find a job. I need to find an apartment for Mike and I, we can't crash with you forever. And I don't know anyone or anything in this city and…" Marcela starts to ramble.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. You both can stay here as long as you need to. And you have Carli and Ro too, we can show you around. And as for a job, I'm sure I can find you something. What can you do?"

Marcela scoffs "Strip?"

"Yeah you're not doing that anymore." Vera declares and Marcela frowns at her "I mean, unless you enjoy it?"

"No, not really. I'm just used to Joshua always making me do it anytime he needed money."

"Hey, I'm not making you do anything you don't want _bebe_." she smiles reassuringly. "What about bartending? I know someone who owns a club."

"Yeah I guess I could do that, I used to work the bar at the _BarBarella,_ before _El Sapo_ asked me to dance instead."

"Well, there you go! Let me call my friend real quick." Vera says enthusiastically before getting up to make her call.

"Damn, your girlfriend really likes you."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Can she be my girlfriend then?" Mike teases.

"Say one more thing about her and I'll throw you out that window."

"Ok, ok. No need to get all jealous, _hermanita*_."

"I'm not jealous, _pendejo_."

Vera comes back, jumping on the sofa next to Marcela, all smiles "Ok, so she said you can come by tomorrow and she'll show you around and see how you work and if everything goes well, she'll hire you!"

"Really? Just like that?"

" _Sí bebe_!" She squeals "And it's one of my favorite places so I could come and say hi all the time!" she grabs Marcela shoulders and rocks them together happily.

"Can you find **me** a job?" interrupts Mike.

"Aren't you like thirteen? Shouldn't you be at school?"

"First of all, I'm sixteen and also I dropped out of school after the _secundaria*_."

"Oh. Well I don't know, what can you do? You're too young to work at a bar…"

"He can cook pretty good" Marcela offers.

"You should call Ro then, she has a cousin who owns a restaurant" Vera hands him her phone.

Mike takes it and goes to the kitchen.

Marcela looks at Vera "Thanks Vera, you really don't have to help us like that."

"Don't worry _bebe_ , I just had to make a call, it's no big deal."

Marcela nods and sits back, trying to accept the offered help without protesting. Vera sinks down and leans against her shoulder "Now I need to find myself a new job."

"You get **me** a job when you also need one?"

"I'm just gonna go talk to my dad tomorrow and he'll get me something."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah." she pauses before adding "Probably…"

Mike comes back with a huge grin "She said she'd give him a call and keep me updated! Damn, I love knowing rich people." He high-fives Vera "Thanks _cuñada*_."

"Mike!"

——

After dinner, once Mike has gone to bed, Marcela goes to take a shower and when she comes out of the bathroom, she sees Vera waiting for her, standing nervously in the middle of the living room.

"Do you think you could sleep with me tonight?"

Marcela grins "That's not the sexiest way of asking but…"

Vera blushes "No, not like that! Just sleep." she adds timidly "You help me sleep better."

"Of course _Güera_ , Mike kicks in his sleep anyway. But we're not sleeping on that sofa again, It's very yellow and everything but my back still hurts."

"Ok, come on then" Vera takes Marcela's hand and leads her to her bedroom.

Marcela lets out an impressed whistle. The room is basically a walk-in closet, shelves full of clothes and shoes on every wall. And pushed under the window there's a giant and comfy looking bed.

"Damn _morra_ , This bed is almost the size of the room I was living in."

"I like to have my own space when people sleep over."

"And yet you ask me to cuddle you to sleep." Marcela teases.

"Yeah well, I don't know… I like you." Vera realizes what she said and quickly adds "I mean cuddling you, I like cuddling with you."

Marcela laughs, "Uhuh, sure" She sits down on the bed "Come here then" she says opening her arms, settling down on the bed "Mmmh oh my god, this bed is so comfortable. I never want to move from here."

Vera joins her and lays her head on the girl's chest "Me neither".

Marcela wraps her arms around the blonde and gently kisses the top of her head. Vera can feel her own heart starting to race at the gesture. For god's sake, she was having sex with the girl three nights ago and now just a soft and innocent kiss from her was making her heart go crazy. It made her realize how much her previous relationships lacked in tenderness and intimacy. Even though she craved and asked for it in her own messed up way, all she got was sex and not even the good kind. But ever since she saved her back in Oaxaca, Marcela, who had lived surrounded by violence all of her life, had been nothing but nice and open with her, never asking for anything in return. Even that night, it was Vera who asked for more, the mushrooms and the darkness making her braver and thankfully, Marcela went with it and showed her what sex could be.There was no ego, no judgment, no obligations, just two humans sharing a beautiful moment of intimacy and pleasure. She showed her what she deserved and she wasn't going to settled for any less.

Vera raises her head and sees Marcela is already asleep. She brushes a strand of hair out of her face and whispers "I'm so glad I met you Marce."

__________

* pinche = fucking

* hermanita = little sister

* secundaria = kinda like middle school

* cuñada = sister in law.


	3. Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcela gets a job! Vera gets a job! Everybody gets a job!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, it is i again.  
> once more, this was written pretty much in one sitting and it's now 3am so you know... anyway, here it is, enjoy!  
> leave a comment, it's always nice!  
> ps: if you know, you know where that line comes from.

Marcela wakes up with the sun shining softly through the thin curtains. She's on her side, hugging and facing Vera who has her face buried in the crook of her neck, one hand gripping her t-shirt and their legs intertwined. No wonder she was feeling hot, the blonde was like a heater. Her hair is a mess, her face relaxed with her mouth slightly open, breaths slow and deep. She looks so peaceful and innocent, thinks Marcela, like a small child sleeping in the arms of their mother, knowing they're perfectly safe in the warm embrace. And she wishes she could keep her like this forever, in a bubble of warmth and security, far away from the messed up world they're living in. Marcela stays like that for a while, watching over the blonde, brushing the hair out of her face. But then her stomach is grumbling and she has to get up. She tries to disentangle herself from the blonde as slowly as she can, not wanting to disrupt Vera's sleep. The girl sleepily protests at the loss of the warm body but luckily she doesn't wake up, instead curling into a fetal position.

Marcela quietly closes the bedroom door but when she turns around she sees Mike at the kitchen counter, arms crossed, trying to look like a dad catching his kid sneaking out at night, barely hiding his devious smile.

Marcela rolls her eyes "Don't start."

"Can I know where you went last night _muchachita_? Cuz you sure weren't in your own bed…"

Marcela grabs the cup of coffee the young boy is holding "Give me that." She sits down and starts sipping the beverage, ignoring her brother's teasing.

"You know, you keep saying she's not your girlfriend but you two are basically acting like a couple." When his sister stays silent, frowning at her mug, he nudges her leg with his toes "Hey what's going on?" he asks seriously, not joking around anymore.

Marcela swallows "Nothing, it's just that…" she hesitates "I really care about her and she's nice and cute and everything but it's complicated."

"What is? Because if you think she doesn't like you back, you're blind _vieja_. The girl is constantly throwing heart eyes at you. Damn, she even shot Joshua to protect you!"

"No, I know… But I'm so messed up right now, I need to get my shit together first. I can't use her to make myself feel better, she's already doing so much to help us." 

Mike gets up to hug his sister and she buries her face into his shoulder. He kisses the top of her head "She is pretty great, you don't want to mess that up." They stay like that for a moment before Marcela is reminded by her stomach that she's hungry.

"Thank you _morrito_. I'm lucky you're my brother." she says, messing up his hair.

"You bet you are."

They're watching some movie when Vera emerges into the living room, she flops down next to Marcela, resting her head against her shoulder.

"Good morning."

"You left me alone" the blonde pouts.

Marcela laughs " _Flaca_ , it's almost noon, I was getting hungry."

"Mmmph, fine." Vera gets up and goes to make herself some breakfast. "We should leave to go to my friend's bar after lunch. I'll drop you off and then I'll go see my dad."

"What about me?" asks Mike.

"Carlota is not working, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to show you around the city or something, I'll text her."

———

Carlota was indeed happy to spend some time with Mike so Vera drops him off at her house before driving to the club.

"Hey you okay Marce? You're pretty quiet."

"I'm fine, just a little nervous I guess. I don't want to mess it up, I don't know what I'll do if I don't get the job."

"Don't worry _bebe_. Eva, the owner, is really great and I'm sure she's going to love you!" she tries to uplift the girl's spirit "Just don't pull a gun on anyone and you'll be fine."

Marcela laughs "Asshole."

Vera smiles to herself, glad the girl isn't sulking anymore. They keep chatting for the rest of the drive, conversation flowing easily between the two of them, before Vera pulls in front of a tall building. She leads them intto the elevator and they go all the way up to the last floor. The doors open and they step into a big open space. The bar is in the middle, facing the DJ booth with in between what seems to be the dance floor, empty at the moment. Around it are some tables and comfy looking seats where some people are having a drink. Three of the tall walls, painted white, are full of art and pictures. In a corner there's a closed door with a _Tattoos_ neon sign above it and on the opposite side, giant windows, letting the afternoon sunlight in.

"Welcome to _La Puesta_!" says Vera enthusiastically, opening her arms. "This is the best place ever! It's called like that because from here you can see the sun setting over the city. It's amazing, you'll see. Here, during the week it's mostly a bar/art gallery, they showcase all kinds of young artists. During the weekends they open later and turn it into club and the room over there, it's a tattoo parlor!" Marcela looks around, impressed. The place is truly nice, the perfect mix between modern and underground without being too snobby about it.

"You're giving me free publicity _Verita_?" says a tall beautiful woman coming their way. She must be in her late thirties, with long dark hair, shiny olive skin and piercing hazel eyes. With her flowing black dress and golden bracelets running down her forearms she looks like some sort of goddess. 

Vera giggles, blushing "You don't need any, everybody loves this place."

The woman wraps an arm around the blonde's shoulders "You're too nice _amorcito_." and Vera is smiling like a student whose favorite teacher complimented in front of the whole class.

"Hi, I'm Eva, the owner. You must be Marcela." the woman says, extending her hand to the girl.

Marcela shakes it "That's right, it's very nice to meet you Eva. Thank you for the opportunity."

Eva smiles gently at her "Of course honey, anything for my favorite blonde here." Vera's schoolgirl giggles are interrupted by Eva's phone ringing "Sorry girls I have to take that. Why don't you get comfortable and I'll be with you in a second." she says to Marcela before leaving.

Once she's out of earshot Marcela turns to Vera who's still sporting a light blush "Someone's got a crush" she teases.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Vera tries to hide her smile.

"I mean I get it, she's gorgeous."

"She also got a wife so don't get any ideas. Just as beautiful…" she sighs dreamily. "She's the tattoo artist actually, you'll probably meet her at some point." She looks at the time on her phone "Ugh, I should get going. Are you okay on your own? I'll come to pick you up after your shift." She gives Marcela a quick hug before walking away "Say bye to Eva for me!".

Marcela shakes her head, laughing before making her way to the bar. The bartender is a big, good looking guy with tattoos peaking out of his rolled up shirt sleeves. He flashes her a charming smile "Hi there, what can I get you?"

"Nothing thanks, I'm just waiting for Eva." Marcela politely declines.

"Oh you're Vera's girl, I guess we're going to be working together then. I'm Lalo." They chat for a while, waiting for Eva to come back. She learns that he's also from Oaxaca, from the coast, where he met Eva's sister before joining her to the big city and they have two kids together now. Eva comes back and shows Marcela around, explaining in more details the concept of the place and asking her a few questions. Once they're done with the tour she brings her back to the bar, asking Lalo to show her how to handle the bar. Marcela learned how to make drinks at the _BarBarella_ but here everything is fancier, more detail oriented. Lalo tells her not to worry too much, as the night goes on the clients get more drunk and they don't really pay attention to what they're drinking. It's still early in the afternoon so there aren't to many customers, allowing Marcela to take her time learning the ropes of the new job.

———

Vera's dad is in the middle of a meeting when she gets to his office. His secretary tries to stop her but she storms in anyway "Dad, we need to talk."

"I'm busy, can't you see?"

Vera turns to the man he's having a meeting with and raises her eyebrows, silently asking what he's still doing there. He looks around, confused but when Vera clears her throat he gathers his stuff and leaves. She goes to pour herself a drink.

"That was important."

Vera sits down, her feet up on her his desk "More important than your daughter?"

"What do you want?" Teodoro asks with a sigh.

"I need a job."

"Well I'm sure there's plenty of people hiring out there."

Vera whines "You know nobody is willing to hire me right now."

"Should have thought about that before throwing a fit." 

"Come on Dad, can't you find me something? I can work here, for the advertising team or something."

"Actually, my assistant is on maternity leave right now, you could fill in for her."

"What? No, I don't want to be your assistant, that's the most boring shit ever."

"It's that or nothing." Vera looks at him, pouting so he adds with a sigh "And maybe if you do a good job, I'll see about that advertising job."

Vera thinks about it for a while "Ugh, fine. But you have to reactivate my credit cards then." She gets up, grabbing a bottle of whiskey on her way out "And I'm taking this."

"8 o'clock tomorrow Vera!"

"Bye Daddy!"

Once in her car, Vera drops her head on the steering wheel, that didn't go as she had hoped it would. She thought she'd just flash a smile at her dad and he'd make a few calls and get her a job at some cool place but no, instead she got some boring job where she'll have to spend all day with her dad who's incapable of having a conversation longer than five minute with her. She looks at the time and sees she still has a few hours before she has to pick up Marcela so she drives back home, planning to drown her disappointment in whiskey. 

———

The afternoon is coming to an end and people keep coming in, looking for a drink after work. Every now and then Marcela gets a glimpse of Eva going around. She seems to know everybody, from the snobby, artsy crowd to the random guy who's been looking at the same picture for half an hour. At some point she comes by to see how Marcela is doing. And she's proud to say she's actually doing pretty good, her old habits kicking in and even when she has some doubts, Lalo is there to help. 

Around 8 the sun starts to set and the whole place gets drowned in a glowing pink light and it's breathtaking, everything goes quieter, everyone taking in the view. Vera wasn't exaggerating when she said it was amazing. And speaking of the devil, she sees the blonde coming out of the elevator, making her way to the bar, she stumbles a little and Marcela wonders if she's drunk.

"Hi _bebe_!" the blonde loudly greets her, leaning over the bar and planting a kiss on Marcela's cheek "I missed you you know…" she slurs. Ok she's definitely drunk. Vera notices Lalo and waves at him "Hi there _Lalocura_."

"Hi _Veraciraptor_ , how you doing?"

Vera growls at him playfully, showing her teeth. "Just checking up on Marce here, how is she doing?"

"Your girl is doing really good, she caught on pretty quickly." 

Vera smiles proudly at Marcela who's busy making a drink "Yeah, she's amazing like that… Hey, can I steal her for a sec?"

"Sure, she hasn't taken her break yet, just don't take too long."

Vera walks up to Marcela, takes her hand and drags her from behind the bar towards the bathroom. Marcela looks back at Lalo who gives her a nod, telling her she can take a quick break. Once in the bathroom, Vera shoves Marcela into a stall and closes the door behind them.

"What are you doing?"

The blonde brings her arms around the shorter girl's neck, giggling "Nothing _bebe_ , just wanted to say hi properly…" she tries to lean in for kiss but Marcela moves her head and she ends up kissing her neck.

"You're really drunk Vera."

"Didn't stop you back at the beach." She mumbles as she starts sucking on the girl's neck.

"Vera stop it, you don't know what you're doing."

Vera abruptly pulls away, oscillating "What?" she asks loudly "You don't want me anymore? You got me to help you and now you're getting rid of me? You're using me like everybody else?"

"That's not…" Marcela sighs, drunk Vera is not going to be easy to reason with. "We'll talk about it back home when you're sobered up. Wait, did you drive here?"

Vera pouts. "No, I couldn't find my keys."

Marcela sinks back against the door, relieved. "So what happened? Why are you so drunk? Did something happen with your dad?"

Vera opens the door, shoving Marcela as she gets out "Nothing happened, everything is great."

Marcela takes a deep breath, trying not to let the girl's behavior get to her. She's drunk, she doesn't know what she's doing. She splashes some water on her face before returning to the bar. Vera is there, nursing a drink and chatting with a guy with a hat whose personality seems faker than Vera stepmom's breasts.

Lalo notices her concerned looks and tells her he made her cocktail virgin. "I've been handling drunk Vera for years now, I know what I'm doing." he looks at the blonde fondly "She gets moody and she can be a lot but you gotta be patient with her. She's just testing your limits to see if you stick around or not. Most people don't."

"I want to."

"I know." he gives her shoulder a squeeze "You're good for her, she needs someone who keeps her grounded."

———

After everybody left and Marcela helped Lalo clean the bar, she goes to wake up Vera who fell asleep on one of the tables. "Hey, _Flaca_ wake up, it's time to go." Vera gets up, mumbling something incomprehensible. She buries her face against Marcela's neck, putting all of her weight on the girl. Marcela half drags her to the elevator where Lalo is waiting for them. He offers them a ride home and Marcela accepts, too tired to wait for a cab.

At home, Mike, back from his afternoon with Carlota, is already asleep. Vera drops into one of the seats at the kitchen counter and Marcela brings her at tall glass of water which she drowns immediately.

Marcela sits in front of her. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah. Sorry for getting mad at you back there." Vera apologizes shyly.

"What happened with your father?"

"Nothing bad really, he got me a job but not the one I wanted so I got disappointed and I dealt with it the best way I could." she laughs dryly, pointing at the empty bottle on the floor next to the sofa. "Also sorry for trying to jump your bones in a bathroom stall. I just wanted to feel something and you make me feel good so drunk me assumed it was an okay thing to do…"

Marcela gets up and takes the blonde into her arms "Hey _Mamí_ , I'm here for you okay?" she feels the blonde's arms tightly wrapping around her in response. "I'm not leaving you Vera."

Vera looks up at her, takes a shaky breath and says "I really want to kiss you right now."

"Vera…"

"What? I'm not drunk anymore."

Marcela chuckles "Yeah you are"

"Okay, maybe a little bit" Vera admits "but I'm sober enough to know I really want to kiss you. Don't you want to? It's okay if you don't." she looks down, fearing the answer is going to hurt.

Marcela takes her face in her hands, gently stroking her cheek "Hey, I want to, I really do. It's all I've wanted since I saw you coming at me angry outside that hotel."

Vera finally looks at her with sad puppy eyes "But..?"

"But I don't think it's a good idea, not right now. I've been in this toxic relationship with Joshua for ten years, I need some time to deal with that. I want to be in a good place before we do anything. You deserve better than a relationship built on shaky grounds."

"That was probably the nicest let down ever." tries to joke Vera "And you're annoyingly right. I have some shit I need to deal with too… But you're saying _someday_ right?"

"Yeah Vera, someday."

"Good."


	4. Sweettalk My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rocio got news, Carlota and Mike are bffs and Marvera are soft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait folks, i've been busy and drawing a lot (Barbie even put my art on her ig stories the other day and i was like !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i didnt write much this past week. I wanted to include the party in this chapter but decided to leave it for the next one instead so i could give you something today. I wrote most of this like a week ago and i get kinda dissociative with what i write so i dont really know what to think of it but yall tell me in the comments. Enjoy!

A couple of weeks have gone by and they've fallen in some sort of routine. Vera working all week for her father, Marcela mostly working the afternoon shift two days of the week and the nights on the weekends and Mike who got a job as a kitchen helper at Rocío's cousin's restaurant works the lunch shift. Most of the time they can have breakfast and dinner together, sometimes inviting Carlota and Rocío over. And tonight is one of those evenings. Mike is making the food, happy to be able to show off his newly acquired cooking skills, Vera is setting the table and Marcela is mixing cocktails when the guests arrive.

Carlota loudly enters the apartment "Good evening my beloved friends! We have arrived!" Rocío,greets the hosts more quietly, giving them a hug and handing Marcela the bottle of tequila she brought.

"What's cooking _Mickey Mouse_? Need some help?" asks Carlota, peeking over Mike's shoulder.

"It's all good, you can go sit over there where you won't bother me…" 

Marcela looks at them with concern "Carlota? What did you do to him? His usual reaction to people calling him that is hitting them."

Carlota cheekily puts her arm around the teenager's shoulders "Well you see, Mike and I are best friends now. Right Mickey?"

"In your dreams _Carlota La Loca_." Mike answers offhandedly, still focused on the food he's cooking.

"See, he loves me." she makes her way to Marcela who hands her a margarita. "Mmh this is so good Marci. I need to come here more often, food and drinks made by professionals."

Vera rolls her eyes "Pretty sure at this point you come here more for the food and the cocktails than to visit me, you know your friend from fifteen years…"

"Sorry _Verita_ but you know how much I love good food."

"Speaking of food, dinner is ready!" Mike comes in, dropping a huge plate of pasta on table. "Freshly made fettuccine with spinaches and salmon for the ladies."

Marcela looks at him, impressed "Damn Mickey, this looks amazing!"

"Call me that again and you don't get to eat any of it."

"Ah! I told you, best friends." exclaims Carlota "But seriously Mickey, this is delicious, congrats buddy." she ruffles his hair proudly.

Rocío nods approvingly "She's right, this is really good. I'll need to thank my cousin for teaching you how to cook so well."

Mike sits down with a huge smile on his face "Thank you Ro."

They eat in silence for a while, enjoying the food when the young doctor declares "I've got some news guys."

Carlota asks with her mouth full "Wassup?"

Vera sends her a disgusted look before asking Rocío if everything is okay.

"Everything is fine. It's just that yesterday I called Juana, you know, the _partera_ , to ask her if I could go and learn from her because I feel like like she has so much knowledge she could teach me and there's so much more to medicine than the regular stuff they teach us at school and I want to explore that and… anyway, she said yes and uh… I'm leaving next week."

"Wow Ro, that's amazing." says Carlota "I knew something changed for you when we were there."

Vera looks more reserved "Are you sure? I mean, you've been dreaming of becoming a surgeon for years."

"Yeah I"m sure. I'm not saying I'm going to go live in the mountains of Oaxaca forever but et least I want to learn other ways. And sure surgeons are super important but helping someone give life is just something else, there's something holy about it…"

"Im sure you're going to be amazing at it Chío." Marcela says encouragingly.

" _Chentito_ is going to be happy to see you again." Vera teases her.

"Oh and you can send us some mushrooms while you're there!" 

"Carlota, I don't think that's legal…"

———

Once the two girls have left and Mike has gone to bed, Vera takes Marcela by hand and leads her out of the apartment "Come on, I want to show you something." They take the stairs up to the last floor and then climb a ladder that leads to the roof. In the dark Marcela can see an old grill laying around as well as some lawn chairs. Vera picks up something and then drags a chair to the edge of the building, settling down, her feet up on the parapet "You coming?" Marcela picks the most stable looking chair before joining the blonde who's lighting a candle. "I like coming up here when I need to be alone."

"The balcony is not enough?"

"You can still see the neighbors and the street and everything from there. Here you look up and you're alone."

"Then why did you bring me?"

Vera takes her hand and brings it into her lap "Because I like your company and this way if you ever need a place to be alone, you know where to go."

Marcela gently squeezes her hand as an answer and they stay in a comfortable silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the busy city slowly falling asleep.

"How's work with your father anyway? You never talk about it."

Vera sighs "Because it's boring and there's nothing to talk about."

"What does he do?"

"He's got a telecom company but he also owns a bunch of other businesses, some real estate too… This building is his actually. He got me the apartment when I started going to college and then he decided to buy the whole building."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that…"

"What did you study?"

Vera is surprised at the sudden change of subject but appreciates it "Marketing and communication."

"Really? I pictured you studying something more exciting like fashion or acting maybe."

Vera laughs "I don't need no school to teach me how to be dramatic _bebe_." She gets serious before adding "I wanted to study photography actually but dear Dad said it was useless so…"

Marcela looks at her with curiosity "Photographer Vera, I could see that…"

"Nah I got my degree, I'm never stepping into a school again."

"You could still practice though. I saw your camera downstairs."

Vera hums, thinking about the idea. She did love taking pictures before her dad shut down her dreams of becoming a professional photographer. It could be nice to pick back up her camera. She wiggles her eyebrows at Marcela "Wanna pose for me? I need to practice nude portraits…"

Marcela playfully shoves her away "You're making jokes but I can see you're actually thinking about it."

"I am. One of these days I'm bringing you with me and we're going to go take some pics downtown."

"Okay. If your father didn't support your photography dream then I will. You'll see _Güera_ , someday you'll have your pictures on the cover of some fancy magazine." She notices Vera looking at her with a weird face "What?"

The blonde looks down at their intertwined fingers "Nothing."

"Come on, don't start acting all coy, I know you want to say something." Marcela nudges her gently.

"That."

"That what?"

"What you just did right there, I feel like you always see right trough me. Like I don't have a choice but to be just me when I'm with you."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"It is, it feels good not having to pretend all the time but it also scares the shit out of me you know? I'm scared I won't be able to hide the ugly parts and they'll scare you away."

"You left me in the middle of the street by night once, I don't think you could do much worse. And I know you did it to protect yourself and the girls. Like I told you before, you're not a bad person Vera. Not even close."

"But…"

'We all got our demons and some days they make a bigger mess than others but that doesn't make you a bad person _Flaca_ , just human. And whatever yours look like, they won't scare me away and if the mess is ever too much for you to handle on your own, I'm here to help you okay _Mami_?"

Vera stares at Marcela in disbelief. Since she was little girl, people never truly saw her, they saw her money, they saw her body, they saw her bratty, loud persona but they never cared to look past that. Her dad was always working or partying, buying her whatever she wanted as a way to keep her out of his way. Her mother was never a mom to her, always too drunk or too high to take care of little Vera, leaving that job to the nannies and then one day just leaving from her life, never looking back. At some point Vera realized most kids at school were nice to her because of her money but she decided she'd rather be surrounded by fake friends than being alone so she went along with it, inviting them to crazy birthday parties and on expensive weekend trips. Later on, she tried to get some attention from boys and it wasn't hard but what she craved was affection and what they wanted was mostly sex. Carlota and Rocío were the only two people who had stuck around, never asking for anything in return for their friendship. But she was so used to her detached party girl mask that she ended up finding comfort in it and even with them she never felt like she could fully be her true self. That was something she had always envied in Carlota, the fact that she was always herself, honest, not caring what society had to say about it, well except with her poetry… And now, here was Marcela seeing past all of her bullshit, telling her she's there for her and Vera just can't believe it.

Marcela turns to fully face her, taking both her hands into her own, looking her straight in the eyes "I mean it Vera."

Vera looks down "I know." It's barely audible so she repeats a little louder "I know." Then she looks upa smile on her face "I wish I'd met you years ago, it would have avoided me a whole lot of trouble."

"Oh believe me, we would have gotten into a LOT of trouble."

Vera laughs "Yeah probably." then remembering something she adds "Speaking of trouble, my dad has a work party next week and I have to be there so you're coming with me."

"Why would I go to your dad's work party? It sounds horrible."

"To keep me company, I hate most people there."

"Why don't you go with Rocío and Carlota? They're more used to those fancy parties."

"Rocío will be stressing over her departure and Carlota would probably get into a fight with some old guy over capitalism or some shit like that. She can come over to babysit Mike though, they weirdly seem to be getting along quite well."

"Yeah I don't know how that's happening but Carlota's influence is way better than those sleazy guys back home."

"So you'll come with me?" Vera makes puppy eyes at Marcela.

"Ugh fine… But I'm only agreeing because I'm sure there's gonna be good food."

Vera squeals happily and leans in to give Marcela a kiss on the cheek "It's going to be fun you'll see!".


End file.
